Mac Pro now comes with standard NVIDIA GeForce GT 120

Mar 3, 2009 15:25 GMT  ·  By

For once, Apple has pretty much confirmed all the latest rumors concerning hardware upgrades for its entire desktop lineup (not that it wasn't obvious, but it's a warm feeling nonetheless). Leaving the consumer category aside (covered here), the new Mac Pro should mark a giant footstep in the hearts of power users and novice geeks alike.

Apple has beefed up the Mac Pro beyond recognition, using Intel “Nehalem” Xeon processors and a next-generation system architecture to deliver up to twice the performance of the previous generation system. The computer, starting at $2,499, also features the latest graphics technology. The NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 with 512MB of GDDR3 memory is now a standard on the new Mac Pros. The high-performance graphics card allegedly offers nearly three times greater performance when compared to the previous generation system.

On a more detailed note about the Mac Pro's Intel Xeon processors, Apple reveals they can run at speeds of up to 2.93 GHz, each with an integrated memory controller with three channels of 1066 MHz DDR3 ECC memory that delivers up to 2.4 times the memory bandwidth while cutting memory latency up to 40 percent.

“The 'Nehalem' advantage,” as Apple puts it, is that “Its single-die, 64-bit architecture makes 8MB of fully shared L3 cache readily available to each of the four processor cores. The result is fast access to cache data and greater application performance,” Apple explains. “Combine that with the other technological advances and you get a Mac Pro that’s up to 1.9x faster than the previous generation,” the Mac maker says.

As for the new interior, Apple claims it's now easier to access all the components within the Mac Pro “for hassle free expansion.” Four direct-attach cable-free hard drive carriers are included, for installing up to 4TB of internal storage when using 1TB 7200-rpm Serial ATA drives.

“The new Mac Pro is a significant upgrade and starts at $300 less than before,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “The Mac Pro features an advanced system architecture, new faster processors and our best-ever graphics options to deliver a faster, more powerful system that our professional customers are going to love.”

The fresh quad-core Mac Pro is priced at $2,499, while the new 8-core Mac Pro costs $3,299  to buy. Full tech specs for both models are listed below.

New quad-core Mac Pro

- one 2.66 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 3500 series processor with 8MB of L3 cache;

- 3GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 ECC SDRAM memory, expandable up to 8GB;

- NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 graphics with 512MB of GDDR3 memory;

- 640GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard drive running at 7200 rpm;

- 18x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW);

- Mini DisplayPort and DVI (dual-link) for video output (adapters sold separately);

- four PCI Express 2.0 slots;

- five USB 2.0 ports and four FireWire 800 ports;

- Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;

- ships with Apple Keyboard with numerical keypad and Mighty Mouse.

New 8-core Mac Pro

- two 2.26 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 5500 series processors with 8MB of shared L3 cache;

- 6GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 ECC SDRAM memory, expandable up to 32GB;

- NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 graphics with 512MB of GDDR3 memory;

- 640GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard drive running at 7200 rpm;

- 18x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW);

- Mini DisplayPort and DVI (dual-link) for video output (adapters sold separately);

- four PCI Express 2.0 slots;

- five USB 2.0 ports and four FireWire 800 ports;

- Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;

- ships with Apple Keyboard with numerical keypad and Mighty Mouse.

Visit Apple here to learn more on the Nahalem-powered Mac Pro.

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The new Mac Pro - design
The  Xeon “Nehalem” processor features the next-generation Intel architecture
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